Writing about travelling in Egypt — the Nile, the temples, and how to see the great sites without spending the trip in coaches.
Latest
Coming soon
Egypt articles are in progress. The Africa journal carries the regional planning pieces in the meantime.
- See the Africa journal
- Nile cruise planning
- When to go
Egypt is at its best between October and April. Summer temperatures in Luxor and Aswan regularly exceed 40°C and make midday sightseeing genuinely difficult.
What this journal covers
Egypt's great sites run along about 900km of river, and the difference between a good trip and an exhausting one is almost entirely how you sequence them and how much you attempt in a day.
Two sites a day
Luxor alone holds more monumental architecture than most countries. Trying to do the east and west banks in one day is how people come home tired rather than moved.
Heat decides the calendar
October to April is the window. Summer temperatures in Luxor and Aswan regularly exceed 40°C and midday sightseeing becomes genuinely difficult.
Guides change everything
More than almost anywhere, a good Egyptologist turns rubble into a story. This is not a destination to do with a guidebook alone.
Cruise or dahabiya
The large boats are comfortable and social; a dahabiya carries a dozen people and moors where the big boats cannot.
Where we are going next
The Grand Egyptian Museum now holds the Tutankhamun collection and deserves a full day of its own rather than a morning bolted onto Giza.
Where we are going next
Egyptian writing here is aimed at travellers who want the great sites without the coach-and-queue version of the trip. Recurring themes:
Cruise versus dahabiya. The large Nile boats are comfortable, social and efficient. A dahabiya carries about a dozen people, sails rather than motors, and moors at villages the big boats pass. They are different holidays at different prices.
The Grand Egyptian Museum. Now holding the full Tutankhamun collection, it deserves a day of its own rather than a morning bolted onto Giza — and it changes how the rest of the trip reads.
Pacing in the heat. Two sites a day is not laziness, it is what makes the trip enjoyable. October to April is the window; outside it, everything happens before eleven.
Where this leads
Blog attracts, things to do informs, tours convert — in that order.